but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates.
God spoke these words Himself with dreadful pomp, not merely whispered through conscience or providence, but with the authority of Jehovah, the self-existent One. He bound Israel threefold: by His nature as eternal Lord, by covenant as their God, and by His power to reward obedience and punish disobedience.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 20:1-11
Israel knew from creation's history that God rested the seventh day and sanctified it, but no command to keep it had been given until Sinai, prepared by the manna's pattern. Now the seventh day becomes the Lord's own rest-day, consecrated by the complete cessation of all work, man and beast alike, within the gates.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 20:8-11
The Lord appointed this day as rest for Israel at Sinai, not because it was the seventh day from creation, impossible to keep with exactness across the earth where night is day elsewhere, but because He commanded it to this distinct people. Only work of mercy and necessity is permitted; all servile labor, trade, and handcraft must cease.
AI summary